Maha Metro partners with IIT Kanpur for cyber security

 

 

 

 

Against the backdrop of increasing attack on public system, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) has taken lead in the country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with C3iHub, IIT Kanpur. The move is aimed at strengthening cyber security for MMRCL’s Nagpur and Pune operations.

 

The MoU was signed by Shravan Hardikar, MD, MMRCL, and Tanima Hajra, Chief Operating Officer, C3iHub, at Metro Bhawan, recently. C3iHub is a subsidiary of IIT, Kanpur. Recently, Europe airport system was crippled by cyber attack that disrupted flights across the continent. This is first ever MoU signed between IIT, Kanpur and any Metro organisation across the country. This is being done to make IT systems adequately resilient and sensitise officers to ensure scrupulous adherence to cyber security protocols. This would be a continuing endeavour.

 

The MoU will cover critical systems like Operations Control, Signalling, Telecom, Power Supply, Train Automatic Fare Collection, Building & Tunnel Management, and Train Onboard Systems. This new initiative shall ensure enterprise-level cyber safety and same shall align Maha Metro with global standards such as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIST-CSF, and CERT-In, ensuring resilience against evolving cyber threats.

 

Assessments will be carried out at major metro hubs at Nagpur (Zero Mile OCC, Hingna Depot, Sitabuldi, Airport South, Khapri, HQ) and Pune (OCC, Range Hills Depot, Civil Court, PCMC, Swargate, HQ). Taking cue from Maha Metro, other Metro organisations in country are also working on following points: To effect qualitative improvements in Grievance Redressal systems in order to become more sensitive, accessible and meaningful, to make sustained efforts for reducing compliance burden and decriminalising minor offences, to revamp website to make it user-friendly, taking into account the global best practices, to take steps to make

 

IT systems adequately resilient and to sensitise officers to ensure scrupulous adherence to cyber security guidelines and protocols. Further, Metro’s are also going to assess manpower requirements commensurate with their responsibilities, taking into consideration new projects/ongoing projects being implemented.

 

Hardikar said that, cyber threat has been a major cause of concern for all, and Maha Metro is no exception. Maha Metro has branches with a public interface making it vulnerable to cyberattack. Hence it was essential to build a robust system to prevent such attacks. Senior Maha Metro officials Director(Rolling Stock) Vinod Kumar Agrawal, Director (Strategic Planning & Operations) Anil Kokate, Director (Finance) Harendra Pandey and Dr Anand Handa, Chief Strategy Officer, Dr Ras Dwivedi, Senior Vice President, both representing C3iHub were present on the occasion.